Clindamycin Health Dictionary

A common skin condition starting after puberty, and which may persist for many years. It involves plugged pores (blackheads and whiteheads), pimples and deeper nodules on the face, neck, trunk and even the upper arms. It arises from pilosebaceous glands (relating to hair follicles and associated SEBACEOUS GLANDS). SEBUM production is increased and bacterial proliferation causes in?ammation with PAPULE and PUSTULE formation. Plugs of sebum and epidermal cells form blackheads (comedones); the colour is not due to dirt but to dried oil and shed skin cells in the hair-follicle openings.

Treatment Twice-daily washing with a salicylic-acid cleanser can help remove the pore-blocking debris, as can daily shampooing. Use only oil-free cosmetics and hide blackheads with a ?esh-tinted acne lotion containing benzoyl peroxide, acid or sulphur. Never squeeze blackheads, however tempting; ask a skin specialist how to do this properly. Other treatments include microdermabrasion, and the antibiotic lotions erythromycin and clindamycin may be e?ective. Tretinoin and adapilene can be used on the skin but are not permitted in pregnancy and may cause problems such as hypersensitivity to sunlight, so medical advice is essential. In resistant cases, long-term suppressive oral therapy with one of the TETRACYCLINES or with ERYTHROMYCIN may be necessary. In females a combined oestrogenantiandrogen ‘pill’ is an alternative. Severe resistant acne can be cleared by a 16- to 24week course of oral isotretinoin, but this drug is teratogenic (see TERATOGENESIS) and can cause many side-effects including depression, so its use requires specialist supervision.

See www.skincarephysicians.com/acnenet/... acne

The prevention or treatment of disease by chemical substances. The term is generally used in two senses: the use of antibacterial and other drugs to treat infections; and the administration of ANTIMETABOLITES and other drugs to treat cancer. The discovery by Paul Ehrlich in 1910 of the action of Salvarsan in treating syphilis led to the introduction of sulphonamides in 1935, followed by PENICILLIN during World War II, which revolutionised the treatment of common infections. Many ANTIBACTERIAL DRUGS have been developed since then: these include CEPHALOSPORINS, cephamycins, TETRACYCLINES, AMINOGLYCOSIDES, MACROLIDES and CLINDAMYCIN as well as antituberculous drugs such as STREPTOMYCIN and METRONIDAZOLE. Unfortunately, overuse of chemotherapeutic drugs in medicine and in animal husbandry has stimulated widespread resistance among previously susceptible pathogenic microorganisms. Chemotherapy also plays an important role in treating tropical diseases, especially MALARIA, SLEEPING SICKNESS and LEPROSY.

Recently chemotherapy has become increasingly e?ective in the treatment of cancer. Numerous drugs, generally CYTOTOXIC, are available; great care is required in their selection and to minimise side-effects. Certain tumours are highly sensitive to chemotherapy

– especially testicular tumours, LEUKAEMIA, LYMPHOMA and various tumours occurring in childhood (e.g. Wilm’s tumour – see NEPHROBLASTOMA) – and may even be cured.... chemotherapy

a condition caused by overgrowth of certain species of the bacteria that are normally present in the vagina (e.g. Bacteroides, *Gardnerella vaginalis). One of the most common vaginal infections, it is marked by a greyish watery vaginal discharge with a characteristic fishy odour. Treatment is with clindamycin or metronidazole.... bacterial vaginosis